Leg stretching devices are well known. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,117,782 to Johnston; U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,709 to Christianson; U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,865 to Trainor; U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,306 to Goldsmith, et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,873 to Carlstrom. All of these patents show devices for stretching and strengthening muscles of the lower back and legs of a person in a supine position. All of these patents show a rope and pulley system operated by a person by pulling and releasing a rope which extends to a support above the head and then to a person""s foot. The rope is pulled by a user to raise and stretch a leg or legs. None of these patents show a device where the rope is easily adjustable in length to accommodate a user of a different height and to optimize mechanical advantage desirable for stretching.
The present invention relates to a leg stretcher used to stretch a user""s hamstring muscles when the user is lying in a supine position. A conventional pulley is suspended from any convenient support at a position above the user""s head. A rope is threaded through the pulley, and at one end thereof has an adjustable stirrup to be placed around the user""s ankle. The stirrup is adjustable in size to accommodate a particular user""s ankle. The opposite end of the rope is then threaded through a cord lock and a handle bar with the cord lock fixedly attached to the handle bar. This end of the rope is then secured to an adjustment handle which is used to adjust the length of the rope and prevent the rope from slipping through the handle bar.